09 November 2011

Liverpool legend Alan Hansen believes Liverpool were 'sluggish' and 'lacked fluency' against Swansea City at the weekend, but he's confident Liverpool can bounce back with two wins against a 'struggling' Chelsea team in the coming weeks.

In his weekly column for LFC Magazine, Hansen bemoaned Liverpool's failure to create as many chances as in previous games, but called for Kenny Dalglish's fledgling team to be given more time:"As disappointing as the result was, it has to be remembered that this Liverpool side is still gelling as a team, and there will be days when they just don't get going.

"Liverpool had one of those days where they looked sluggish, lacked fluency, and didn't pass or move the ball well".

"The frustrating thing for all managers is that you never quite know when a day like this will come. Some weeks, you can train really well but be shocking at the weekend, yet on other weeks you can train badly but be superb when you play. It can drive a manager crazy"

Hansen also made a rather dubious comparison with Manchester City:

"We're not the only club in the position. I saw Man City's game against QPR on Saturday Night and City were terrible. They played much worse than Liverpool did against Swansea but managed to nick a win because of David Silva's brilliance."

I think that's stretching credibility a little; I don't see how City are in the same position as Liverpool (!). How many goals have they scored recently? Plus, Liverpool had the advantage of playing at home; City were away, and they still managed to score three goals.

Hansen also pointed out that Liverpool have a great away record at the moment, and believes that Dalglish's team can banish the disappointment of the Swansea result with two wins against Chelsea:

"Chelsea are struggling a bit, and their confidence levels are low having conceded 5 goals at home to Arsenal, and Liverpool have won four away games on the bounce.

"Liverpool's players should go to Stamford Bridge feeling confident that they can make it six in a row by winning there twice"

36 comments:

"it has to be remembered that this Liverpool side is still gelling as a team"--When it comes to LFC, I hate seeing this argument, just like "give X some time, he is going to improve".It is definitely true that teams, as well as players, can improve over time, but in our case, I have only been seeing these as excuses for poor performances, FOR YEARS.

Totally agree,Tornike. There has to come a time when that excuse can no longer be used. At the end of the season, if Liverpool have failed to qualify for the CL, I doubt the 'gelling' excuse will be acceptable.

Liverpool are unpredictable nowadays. Not withstanding the new signings the old players are inconsistent and a few not performing like Lucas. This game against Chelsea is tough and players will have to up their game.

So Hansen feels City who lead us by 12 points struggled yet scored 3 goals and won is a sufficient comparison to Liverpool who have failed to beat 2 promoted sides Swansea and Norwich at Anfield. Anfield has also seen Liverpool fail to beat a Sunderland side that has only won 2 of their 11 games this season. talking about 5 successive away wins so far glosses over the reality of our league performance so far this season.So far Liverpool has 10 points from 6 games made of 2 wins and 4 draws at Anfield while the away record of 9 points from 5 games consisting of 3 wins and 2 losses is not a record to be proud of.Looking at the defeats in question really adds more questions than answers. Totenham's biggest win this season came in the 4-0 thrashing of Liverpool but this was after Spurs themselves had been comprehensively dismantled by both Manchester clubs. Spurs are by no means prolific this season winning 3 of their matches by 2 clear goals and the other 3 by one clear goal so the Liverpool result from the Tottenham perspective is a bit of an oddity.Stoke our other conquerors are not as mean defensively so far this season as many would want to imply since they have already lost 5 times in 11 games and 3 of those losses were by 2 clear goals and the other losses being 4-0 and 5-0 thrashings.Liverpool's home record is 5th and away record 9th so far this season which clearly places us outside the top 4 on either counts as well as the combined full table standing 6th after the 11 matches.Even the much derided Arsenal performances so far this season places the gunners 3rd in home fixtures so far this season.What worries me the most is that our legends would have been quick to point out our deficiencies in days gone by but since one of their own is in charge, excuses seem to be flying in. when Liverpool was buying clearly expensive players of questionable ability, these ex-pros where singing these were the right moves because these players already knew the premier league and needed no adjusting period. They also pointedly stated this was redressing Houlier and Benitez main flaws of buying players with no premier league experience who all needed time to bed in hence the new policy was clearly a KD stroke of genius. Now these new players have been underwhelming, the ex-pros quickly start saying they need time to settle in. One ex-pro has even said finishing 6th or 7th would be a good achievement even though it is no improvement on our last 2 seasons which have been the worst seasons in the last 10 years.I remember one of the ex-pros on liverpoolfc.tv dismissing fans clamouring for Mata who had set up a petition for him to be signed by saying Mata was not the right choice because he would take time to settle in but Chelsea were braver and got him instead. Chelsea are not in their best form of late but still Mata has shown in most of their games.It is not the end of the world after 11 games of cause but sugar-coating poor performances only breeds more disappointing results given players will remain as relaxed as they have been so far. You only see a few players bust a gut to get a result and all the teams we have faced so far are disappointed not to get maximum points given they feel we are very beatable. It is for this reason I feel Agger summed up what many fans thought about our shambolic performances by equating these performances to headless chicken.

T'is typical but they are top class players under top class coaches & a manager , they get it too easy .

Its important to be a little patient & a little forgiving but not too patient or too forgiving , otherwise they will take the piss like Renia is doing with his latest defeatist press comments .

6 months is long enough for any squad to Gel under any board & management who are half way ambitious .

Otherwise its time to brutally clear out everyone who has been at the club since before January , that might not be cost effective & might destabilize the club tho , so we have to be a little patient & a little forgiving .

The rhetoric all summer was that we were bringing in Premiership tested players in order to avoid the mythical "bedding in process". It's just excuse making to start falling back on that now as soon as results/performances fail to meet the required standards.

Disagree totally. Four new players, add in Suarez and Carroll = 6, that's half a team.

I always thought we would need this season to gel and consolidate.

Who even said it was an excuse. The only thing really we have been guilty of is not converting chances. We lost one game with nine men, the other was, what can you say, unlucky? This is in stark contrast to some of the games we lost in the early part of the season last year, when our tactical approach mirrored that of a relegation threatened team.

KD is moulding a team. Take City for example, took them a while to get going despite significantly more investment than us.

Genius! I think you have cracked it - "its no wonder we are where we are with fans like you" .... Your right actually, maybe if all the bloggers where a bit more positive we could be higher up the table. Great thinking

Not an excuse at all. Players are not robots - and nor is a team understanding. Kids today don't understand what it takes to build a successful team. Just want instant success without the graft. Pathetic.

So winning 5 games away is nothing! A manager,fans,players and explayers look for the positives and the negatives of a season you are obviously quite a negative person the team has played well in nearly all the games but are struggling to play for the 90 minutes and most all are struggling to score the performances have been far from shambolic.We have tried everyway going now to get back to being league champions Explayers,Boot Room,French and Spanish now we have gone back to the last manager of the Boot Room years to bring us the league and has put his faith in British players just like SAF has done Manicni is and hopefully we will get more quality to add to the British players like there is at Man City and Man United.

I am not sure how old you are and your assumption that someone whose opinion differs makes him young in a way makes you the one who approaches difference of opinion in an immature way. City were taken over in August of the 2008-09 season but their outlay was not that big then because many of the stars they chased save for Robinho agreed to join them.Yes City has not set the world on fire till now but you have to acknowledge that after City spent over £100millin prior to the 2009-10 season and had very good performance that saw them on 16points from their first 7. They did fall back after drawing many games but Liverpool have also spent over £100mln but the start has been a stuttering one that leaves more questions than answers. If this is not stating the obvious I don't know what is.You have no inkling as to how old anyone is over the internet and because you decipher anything not consistent with your thought process to be representative of the younger generation without any factual backing of your reasoning leaves a lot to be desired.For the record I was a Liverpool fan before Leeds won their first title since the 70s or United won their first title in 26 years. I have seen John Aldridge, John Barnes and Peter Beardsley in Liverpool colours before liverpoolfc.tv was broadcasting. However old that makes me, you make up your mind but it doesn't hurt to respect fans who love the same club unless it is a question of you saying 'I loved Liverpool first' and therefore you have become a self appointed gold standard of being a fan.

Brazilian Jo, Vincent Kompany and Shaun Wright-Phillips all joined in 2008 under Thaksin Shinawatra then Abu Dhabi they brought Robinho so Man City have been spending for a long time under 2 different owners.

Yes they did spend about £70mln after Shinawatra took over but Liverpool were an established side in the top 4 then while City were a mid-table club prior to Shinawatra taking over. City spent to catch up with all the top 4 sides not just Liverpool. Top 4 consists of 4 clubs hence the need to justify failure to be one of the top 4 by comparing ourselves to City over-simplifies how we have been under-performing even our standards we have set in recent years.Now that City may have gone beyond us, will we start comparing ourselves to Stoke and clubs that finish closer points-wise to us?Newcastle have not spent a lot of money but also lost a few key player but their performances have been assured so far this season.Its a fan choice to either compare ourselves to City who did not set the world on fire after shelling out money or Newcastle who are at present successfully integrating as many new players as Liverpool, Arsenal, Sunderland are but then Liverpool is a club of considerable pedigree given many of us would have been disappointed if we drew or lost to City even after Shinawatra took over.How then can we simply go back and compare ourselves to City of that period who had never finished in a champions league qualifying place. If anything, it's a remarkable lowering of standards. I may sound over-critical because I struggle to accept Liverpool are were they should be after spending more money on players in one calendar year than we have done in history. City can be a convenient comparison but we are our own standard bearers and still are only one league title away from being the joint record title holders again.

I compare with City is that they have brought English players and have moved on big named foriegn players and lets not forget the stadium they were given which is the major obstacle holding back LFC now for years and is now beginning to bite.The one thing about the premier league it does n't care who you are and is waiting for the teams with history and pedigree to fall it is a bit like the FA Cup now with the number of smaller towns and citys in the league.We were an established top 4 side which again drew a lot of games against poor teams and still kept us top 4 but also cost us the title in 08/09 season.As an older fan I am surprised you think money alone can buy you success and when was anything won in November it will take time before the team is playing for the full ninety minutes and not in fits and starts,I believe Kenny has brought British players because we did n't have any and will add more quality foreign signings in January.

So internet blogging on LFC forums on the 25/5/2005 contributed? Thats worse than Houllier claiming he played a massive part as it was his squad!

If you are reffering to attending matches then you have a point, of course fans play a role, a massive role ... but this is an internet forum that has no bearing on an actual match - everyone has an opinion and they all differ and clash but this constant questioning of loyalty when it does not fit in with your own opinion overshadows the reputation LFC fans have. I promote patience but do not support blind faith.

I was talking about the stadium,not much of that spirt on here. I find these sites a bit of fun and how fans now think they know it all and what it is like to carry the pressure and expectations of millions and how they can do it better then the manager and how he has got it wrong and how the last manager would have done better and he never had any money and he would have brought this player and that player.I had faith/blind faith in all our managers but they have had their chance it is Kennys turn to try and get the right blend of player.

Chelsea and City haven't had that either (and changed their managers and squads more often and more significantly than us), but still managed to have far better results than us. Arsenal just lost their two main players, brought in several fresh ones and already managed to climb from bottom of the table to where we are, without using 'give us years to gel' as an excuse.

It is a big exception in modern football to have same manager+coaches+players for many years, and if you're waiting for that to make us competitive, good luck waiting.

The same ole shite from our fans as usual - the difference is that I remember and desire Liverpool aiming for the title itself not for flipping top 4. Failing to achieve it is one thing, but to not even aim for it is unacceptable as far as I'm concerned.

The quote all over the LFC site is about not accepting second best, so where does all this nonsense about top 4 come from!?!?

Man City have only begun to perform now that Mancini is allowing them to perform. They could and should have won the Premiership easily last year too.

A little logic here... apparently Hodgson was the worst manager to ever touch Liverpool and Rafa's final season was sabotaged by the owners. If that is the case, then our last two league positions should be accepted as false right?

So the squad was largely a squad accustomed to finishing in the top 4. Dalglish had been at Liverpool for a while before accepting the job and so knew the strengths and weaknesses of the squad, including the reserves, already. He then had freed reign to rebuild the squad as he saw fit over the last window.

Yet you and your like still attempt to convince the more optimistic fans that 4th place should be the limit of our ambitions? Would that be the case if it was Hodgson that was still in charge over the last two windows??